Easy Vegan Mozzarella “Cheese”

It’s cheese! It’s cheese! And it’s seriously easy to make! Shall we?

This is my take on vegan “mozzarella cheese.” There are quite a few methods out there to try, but to me, this is about as easy (and delicious) as it gets, requiring just 7 ingredients and simple methods to create.

The base for this “cheese” is soaked cashews. They get wonderfully creamy when soaked and create a neutral flavor base that takes on the tanginess of coconut yogurt, lemon, and nutritional yeast so well.

Once blended, all you have to do is cook on the stovetop for about 5-10 minutes, first whisking and then stirring until you get a thick, sticky cheese ball!

At this point, the cheese is ready to use. But to add a bit more flavor to the mozz, you can soak it in a sea salt water brine. I personally thought this was a fun approach, but ultimately, I felt that it added too much moisture to my cheese, so in the instructions, I recommend skipping. But you can see the process photographed below.

What is this cheese good for? SO MANY THINGS.

I loved it on top of pizza, as it got all melty, browned, and gooey. But you could also add it to tomatoes, pesto sandwiches, pasta dishes like baked lasagna, Caprese salads, and so much more!

I hope you all LOVE this recipe! It’s:

Cheesy
Stringy
Gooey
Melty
Easy to make
& Incredibly delicious!

Keep this cheese on hand when you need a cheesy topping for pizza, pasta, “meatballs,” salads, and more! I do have a vegan version of poutine coming up, which I specifically designed this recipe for, so stay tuned!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram so we can see what you came up with. Cheers, friends!

Instructions

Soak cashews in very hot water for 1 hour or overnight or at least 6 hours in cool water. Drain thoroughly.

Add cashews to a high-speed blender, along with coconut yogurt (see notes for substitutions), lemon juice, almond or rice milk, salt, nutritional yeast, and tapioca starch, and blend on high until creamy and smooth, scraping down sides as needed.

Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more nutritional yeast for cheesiness, salt for saltiness, lemon juice for acidity, or coconut yogurt for more creaminess or tang. The texture should be creamy, smooth, and pourable.

Transfer to a small saucepan or skillet, heat over medium-low heat, and begin whisking. It should start to bubble and thicken and look a little clumpy - this is OK. Keep whisking and the mixture will come together in a ball-like shape within 4-5 minutes. Lower heat if cooking too quickly. It’s also normal for the cheese to stick to the bottom of the pan a little. Don’t panic.

Lower heat to the lowest setting and switch to a wooden mixing spoon. Continue stirring until a loose “ball” is formed (see photo). Then transfer to a small mixing bowl.

At this point, it’s cheese that’s ready to be used! I prefer covering, letting it cool in the refrigerator, and then scooping into 1 Tbsp amounts for “curds” or 3 Tbsp amounts for “mozzarella-like balls.”

Optional: Make a salt water brine by adding 1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt to 2 cups (480 ml) hot water and stirring to dissolve. Then add plenty of ice to chill. Add your mozzarella balls or curds to the bath to add a bit more salty flavor. However, I found that this caused the cheese to take on more liquid and become too moist, so I’d personally recommend skipping this step.

Notes

*If not using my Coconut Yogurt Recipe, I recommend Coyo Plain Coconut Yogurt for best results. Or you can always just sub full-fat coconut milk + 1-2 probiotic capsules.*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.*Recipe loosely adapted from Vegan Huggs.

Elodie, sorry you had trouble with this recipe. Did you change any of the ingredients or methods? Would love to help troubleshoot. Understand it won’t taste exactly like mozzarella and the tapioca helps with the “stretchiness.”

Can I use soy yogurt instead of coconut? I have coconut milk but no probiotic capsules. My kids dont like the flavor of nutritional yeast so will try the garlic powder option. Also, if i want to put it on lasagna, can i cook it less and make it more spreadable? Does the cooking time impact the flavor?

This recipe is amazing and so fun. I did realize later that I had used tapioca starch *flour.* The cheese was a little firmer than I had expected and didn’t melt per se, could tha be why? Or is tapioca starch the same as tapioca starch flour? Maybe I should use less? In any case, so good and easy.

This was both easier and tastier than I thought! I used apple cider vinegar instead of lemon for that ‘bite’ and acidity and it was delicious. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly and I have no complaints! Super stretchy and super yummy :) Thanks a lot for the recipe that will now be a staple for our family

Hi Dana – I made this for a special chef job I’m doing for a young woman who can’t have any iodine in her diet for 17 days, to prepare for a thyroid cancer test (she’s in remission – but has to check again every year) – therefore – she can’t have anything with iodized salt – or any products from the sea, seafood or seaweed – no eggs – no dairy etc. and so on. Your website has been a wonderful resource for coming up with fun things that fit her diet! – Can you tell me how long this ‘cheese’ will keep in the fridge, and if it can be frozen? – Many thanks!

Thanks Dana – I tried freezing the vegan mozz (in little balls – on a plate – then after they were completely hard I moved them to a ziplock bag.) – Sadly – freezing destroyed the ‘stretchiness’ – though the flavor was still good and the “cheese” was still soft and a little creamy. So it didn’t ruin it entirely – just isn’t ‘ideal’. – Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes. They are SO helpful for cooking for special diets, and – for just being danged delicious!

I didn’t have tapioca starch but I did have Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer (which contains tapioca and potato starch). I ramped up the nooch, the lemon, the salt and added a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard, too. The end result was still pretty flavourless, but the texture and consistency spot on. I rolled mine into balls, cooled then froze them, coated them with highly seasoned breadcrumbs and baked them on very high (240) for about 8 minutes to make ‘Nozzarella’ balls with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. Ultimately not worth all the effort or the washing up, but hey, a fun night in the kitchen.

Hi Erick, we haven’t tried it, but you could try omitting the nutritional yeast and adding about 1/2 tsp garlic powder for additional flavor. You could also try adding a little miso paste for flavor. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!

Hey guys!
I got home from shopping tonight and realized I had forgotten nutritional yeast! I remembered this comment immediately and tried the garlic substitute. Erick, if you haven’t tried this yet, you absolutely need to. It was EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!! It worked really well. I have never made cashew mozzarella before, but this is going to become a staple in our home.

Question regarding this note about substituting – “Or you can always just sub full-fat coconut milk + 1-2 probiotic capsules.” To clarify, does this mean I could literally just put a can of coconut milk + the probiotic capsules straight into the blender with the rest of the ingredients vs. making your 2-ingredient coconut yogurt beforehand? I love your coconut milk yogurt recipe but if I’m not misunderstanding, not having to actually make the yogurt would save a lot of time!

Also, unrelated – would you be open to considering adding a “skip to recipe” link at the top of your posts? I love the photos and reading the narrative, etc. but sometimes while I’m cooking and need to pull up the recipe quickly or am in the store checking the ingredient list it would be great to not have to scroll so much to find the info.

Thanks for the amazing recipes, can’t wait to try this one for my dairy free pizza!

This is so tasty, and is a forgiving recipe. I attempted to make the yogurt per your recipe. I used a different probiotic and despite following the recipe, the mixture never solidified, however it tasted good and so I used it. I then ran out of almond milk and used oat milk. I added more lemon and salt as well. While cooking, the cheese developed lumps and did seem like it was sticking to the pan – just like you said! Those details are so helpful, like little reassurances that I was on the right track. Before putting this masterpiece into the fridge, I tasted it and it was great. I loved the stretchy texture, tang and the savoriness. I’m excited to add to my dinner tomorrow night. The saltiness and tartness of cheese is difficult to duplicate, but this recipe does!
Thank you Dana!!

I made this twice, both times fantastic! Although the first time I put it on pizza and it sort of just stayed in blobs, still delicious! The second time I added garlic powder and made vegan jambons sans the jam. I only got to try one as they disappeared as soon as I served them. Thanks Dana

I made this and it is delicious! I didn’t have tapioca starch so substituted corn starch. Not stretchy, but I have a sliceable ball of cheese to send home with with vegan college student…kept half for myself. Really good!

When you say sliceable do you mean you could slice it up for sandwiches? Did it melt? I made it with Tapioca and chilled it but I couldn’t slice it. I was going to try freezing and grating it but perhaps I’ll try your method. Thanks for sharing!

I made this last night following the recipe to the letter. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out stretchy or melty at all. I cooked it for 5 minutes and it turned into a solid ball, afterwards I put it in the fridge to solidify some more. Then I tore off chunks to put on pizza and baked it 20mins. The taste is okay, but no stretch at all, and definitely didn’t melt. Just stayed as big globs of cashew purée. Not sure what went wrong.

This was SO delicious! Thank you!
The first time I made it, I thought it was pretty good but not spectacular. I made it again and read the instructions *a bit* more carefully and then cooked it a bit longer than the first time, and it was PERFECT! The extra time is needed to make it have the right texture. I am so happy I tried again!

Living in a 3rd world country, I don’t have access to many things, and I so so so appreciate your recipes! I haven’t made this one exactly how the recipe states since I haven’t found all of the right ingredients here, but I made it just as more of a cheese sauce and mixed it in pasta. It is SO delicious! Thank you so much for taking so much time to list all of these recipes. Having a child with a dairy allergy kind of threw us into eating vegan a lot, and your recipes have made me feel not so lost. Thank you! They are simple, healthy, and delicious!

I used coconut milk (from a carton not canned) as the almond milk I have on hand has vanilla in it. Turned out wonderful. Hadn’t seen that anyone had tried coconut milk so I wanted to let everyone know it works great!

I’ve been working towards a totally plant based diet. Came across the vegan meatball recipe and the vegan mozzarella “cheese” recipes and cannot WAIT to try them… I can make a decent Marinara sauce as my maiden name IS “marinara” finding recipes that eliminate oil is not so easy and I can easily adjust some recipes.. CANNOT wait to try both recipes !

I made this recipe with cornstarch instead of tapioca starch because I couldn’t find it at the store. There were a few things that were interesting to note. First it was more gooey than stretchy. But when it cooled I found that it was very moldable and held its shape rather well. I don’t know how this compares to using tapioca starch, but it seemed to have a thicker texture than the pictures of the original recipe. Aside from the texture, it tasted fabulous and it worked really well on a pizza and my non-vegan siblings enjoyed it.

I’m not a vegan but…..I do have friends that are and the love of cheese is universal to us all.
Having said that, the salty brine-y-ness is one of the best parts of mozzarella, it’s such an important characteristic.

To solve the brine giving you an overly thin or watery vegan mozzarella you’ve got to adopt the dairy cheese making trick–ball up the vegan mozz, brine it in cool brine mix, layer some cheese cloth in a sieve or a bowl, add in your brined ball, fold up the cheese cloth and let the cheese drain. I’ve found its best to hang the ball in cheese cloth over a bowl and let the weight of the mozz help drain itself. Leave it for a a few hours until your mozz releases some of the extra water.

I love pizza but can no longer eat cheese. I have tried all types of vegan mozzarella brands sold at Whole Foods and other grocery stores. None were remotely good. Even made pizza with just roasted veggies, etc. with no cheese but didn’t really like them either.

Then a friend recommended your recipe. Made it yesterday and put it on a pizza last night. It really is wonderful. Fast and easy to make too. I literally had tears in my eyes because I can enjoy pizza again. Thank you so much.

I regularly visit your site for recipe ideas, I loved your chickpea curry recipe, came out great! I can’t wait to try the vegan cheese recipes.
I hate to stop visiting your site, but the ads have gotten extremely annoying
The instructions are hard to read if the page is constantly shifting and more recently, a dove commercial blanked out the whole page for 15 secs, and it does it periodically

I made this a few weeks ago and I am in love! Best vegan mozzarella for pizza EVER! I have been a vegetarian for 25 years and now I have been slowly eliminating dairy from my diet. Which is so hard because I love pizza and I am just not a fan of many of the brands of vegan cheese sold in the market. This is the light at the end of the food tunnel that I have been looking for. When combined with the vegan parmesan it makes the absolute best pizza. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe :) :)

This is SOOOOO good! I haven’t had anything “cheesy” in over a year and I didn’t even make this totally right since I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I keep it in the fridge and mix it into pasta for Mac and cheese and its so so delicious! Thank you!

Just made your cheese recipe. I love it and cannot stop eating it. I made once before but not sure whose recipe I used last time.I. Maybe last time I left out the salt. But this was delicious and stretchy. Using it later for pizza
Thanks

I can hardly wait to make this!! My family is vegetarian and it is REALLY hard to find cheese made without animal or microbial rennet and tastes good. For the comments, this will be a great addition to our meals.
Thank you so much for your blog and such wonderful food ideas!! I hope one day you tell us how you come up with so much deliciousness!!

I made this and was so pleasantly surprised at how well it worked on pizza. Tasting it raw made me feel like the taste wasn’t like cheese but not bad either, more like nutritional yeast. Once on a pizza with pizza sauce, tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, all I got was a mix of tastes and a very pleasant feel in my mouth. It felt halfway between fresh mozzarella and ricotta. I love cheese and I love animals so this will at least replace 1/2 the mozzarella that I eat.

hi! i haven’t tried making this cheese yet, but I was wondering how it would work for making mozzarella sticks? would u recommend freezing it first so as to be able to cut it into sticks before frying? thanks!

I made this for pizza last night and really liked it! I’m thinking next time i’ll spread it on the crust before adding sauce and toppings so that it’s not just in globs. Has anyone done that? Thanks for a great recipe!

I was super apprehensive when I was thickening it in the saucepan because it didn’t smell or taste a whole lot like cheese but when I used it after it had been in the fridge I was amazed!! IT IS SOOOO DELICIOUS!!! I have been making the Parmesan cheese which is also great but I love that the texture of this one is creamy and stringy like real cheese. I have a feeling I’ll be making this once a week ? thank you so much!! ??

I have severe chronic migraines and the can (and are, for me) triggered by glutamic acid, tyrosine and phenylalanine which is present in MSG as well and MSG is a definite headache trigger.
Is there anything else I can use to get that cheesy taste you’re talking about?

I had some non vegans over and made pizzas, you should have seen their faces when I said vegan cheese, but of course I had to hide my smug face when they devoured it all, relishing every bite. I can’t wait to try this out in other recipes. I did find that mine didn’t really melt. I scooped blobs of it onto the pizza like in your picture but they just sort of stayed in place and didn’t melt down or spread. Did I need to cook for longer or spread it out?

Would you happen to know if this would hold up in a mozzarella sticks recipe? I want to try it but am nervous about how deep frying might affect the consistency, or if it is thick/solid enough to dredge and bake.

Made this a few weeks ago. I have never used tapioca flour until now, and wow. It adds a really interesting texture to the vegan “cheese”. I will say though, to get the cheesy texture, it took quite a bit, and i found it added a floury-powdery flavour. I will def try this again though… the texture is unreal.

This was amazing. I made pizzas tonight, piled high with sautéed mushrooms, spinach, artichokes, black olives, roasted garlic, vegan Parmesan and your mozzarella. It was so good! I didn’t miss the dairy at all. Who knew vegan could be so satisfying? Thanks for the awesome recipe!

I’m excited to try this- having been dairy free for years- but I too have an issue with tapioca.
Have you tried arrowroot? I’ve used it as an alternative in baking, but don’t know about the stretch factor.

This is SO GOOD! We grilled pizzas as our farewell-to-summer dinner party fare. I used it sparingly as I usually do when using vegan cheese. Our pizzas were perfect, the only complaint being that I didn’t use enough cheese! Tonight we had leftovers and I piled on more cheese…PERFECTION! Try this, it’s easy to make and tastes really yummy!

DELICIOUS!! I made it for pizza this weekend, didn’t have any tapioca flour but took a chance with egg replacer. It totally worked! Dana, you’re an awe-mazing chef. I’m newly vegan, stumbled upon your website and so grateful I did. Thank you. <3

This is AMAZING! I just finished making it and am so so impressed. I ended up using the plain yogurt from Forager, which is a cashew yogurt and it came out perfectly! So tasty and the perfect texture – slightly stringy, soft, and chewy – just like mozzarella. You are a GENIUS. Thank you!

I have a similar question on subbing the cashews. I have found lots of subs for them, but for this I am concerned about the texture – what would be the best choice, texture wise, for someone who CANNOT eat cashews? THANK YOU!!

Yay! Can’t wait to try this! I just bought a big container of “modified tapioca starch” for another vegan mozzarella recipe that I tried (which unfortunately didn’t turn out so awesome). Do you think I can use that as a sub for regular tapioca starch or no?

Generally speaking even cow’s milk Mozzarella is difficult to shred because it’s soft. We place our Moz in the freezer (the day using it) so it will get firm enough to shred. I wouldn’t let it stay out at all before shredding, it’ll still soften up before cooking.

Try using quinoa rejuvelac w/ full fat coconut milk. You can make rejuvelac using any sprouted grains like brown rice etc. http://rawmazing.com/recipe/rejuvelac/ Once the grains are sprouted and have released the magic stuff into the water you use that to make yogurt by putting like 1-2 Tablespoons w/ the milk.

Some combos can be funky like quinoa rejuvelac + soy milk I didn’t like but I heard brown rice rejuvelac worked well. But quinoa rejuvelac + coconut milk I found pretty good. I also added a bit of sugar to help the little microbes do their magic but I don’t taste it really at the end since it’s food for them.

I don’t ever make comments on people’s food blogs especially if I haven’t made the recipe, but I just saw this one and will be making it… but more importantly – I think you are magical. How in the heck do you come up with these ideas? Your recipes (and I have made many from your blog and cookbook) are so, so good. Hats off to you, ma’am.

Can’t wait to try this–I REALLY miss cheese!!! Made your grated parmesan substitute last weekend and that turned out great. And vegan poutine?! I just died of happiness at the thought. :) Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipes with the world. They have made my transition from vegetarian to vegan almost totally painless.